Georgia Senate Candidates Should Answer for Biden’s Health Care Hypocrisy
Both of the Democratic candidates in Georgia’s two Senate elections want to focus their runoff campaigns on health care. For instance, at a recent rally, Rev. Raphael Warnock, the Democrat challenging Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., claimed “it must be really hard to explain why you’re for getting rid of health care in the middle of a pandemic.”
If Warnock wants to have that debate, then bring it on. The two Republican candidates, and conservatives in general, should welcome this focus, by highlighting the astounding differences between Democratic Party rhetoric on health care and former Vice President Joe Biden’s actions.
Perhaps then Warnock and Jon Ossoff, the Democratic candidate in the other Georgia Senate race, can explain why Biden failed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes that fund Obamacare and Medicare. Does that mean Biden wants to “get rid of health care in the middle of a pandemic,” as Warnock claimed — and if so, then why on earth do Warnock and Ossoff support Biden?
Biden’s Tax Scheme
While the media have spent the past four years hyperventilating about Donald Trump’s taxes, they’ve all but ignored a significant issue with Biden’s. From 2017 through 2019 Biden and his wife Jill funneled more than $13.5 million of their book and speech income as profits paid by two corporations, CelticCapri Corporation and Giacoppa Corporation. By booking this income as corporate profits, rather than wages, the Bidens avoided paying payroll taxes on most of their earnings.
The payroll taxes the Bidens circumvented fund health-care programs that they and Democrats in general claim to support. Specifically, they avoided paying a 2.9 percent Medicare tax on their $13.5 million in corporate profits, as well as an additional 0.9 percent payroll tax imposed in Section 9015 of Obamacare. Last year, tax experts interviewed by the Wall Street Journal called the Bidens’ actions “pretty aggressive,” and found no reason to justify the scheme other than payroll tax avoidance.
Where Do the Candidates Stand on Biden’s Tax Avoidance?
The Democrat Senate candidates should have to answer for the behavior of the man at the top of their ticket. For instance, Ossoff’s health-care platform says that “people with pre-existing conditions are under attack.” So, does Ossoff believe Biden’s deliberate avoidance of Obamacare taxes constitutes an attack on people with pre-existing conditions? If not, how does he think Biden failing to pay $121,628 in Obamacare levies helped people with life-threatening illnesses?
Likewise, Warnock has called for Georgia to expand Medicaid because “Georgians continue to pay taxes to give people in other states access to health care, while we go without.” In that case, what does Rev. Warnock think of Biden not paying more than $120,000 in Obamacare taxes, which, according to his platform, would have “give[n] people…access to health care?”
Both Ossoff and Warnock claim to support Medicare. Ossoff said he “will oppose cuts to Medicare or Medicaid and will vote to strengthen Medicare,” while Warnock claims he will “fight back against efforts by Washington politicians to slash Medicare funding.”
But by taking most of his book and speech income as corporate profits instead of wages, Biden — a Washington politician if ever there was one — avoided paying a whopping $391,912 in Medicare taxes, or more than twice what the average couple will pay over their entire working career. Do Ossoff and Warnock believe the Bidens not paying Medicare taxes strengthens or weakens the program — and what do they plan to do about it?
Ossoff and Warnock: Rubber Stamps for the Left?
During his presidential campaign, Biden repeatedly claimed in campaign ads that Obamacare “is personal to me.” But his actions dodging more than half a million dollars in Obamacare and Medicare taxes say otherwise.
Conservatives should spend the next month-plus asking Ossoff and Warnock whether they agree with the Bidens’ tax avoidance scheme. Their responses won’t just reveal the candidates’ beliefs about health care; they’ll demonstrate whether Ossoff and Warnock will provide a truly independent voice in the Senate or just another rubber stamp for the far-left agenda.
This post was originally published at The Federalist.